Oar rest



OAR REST Filed Oct. :50, 1953 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent OAR REST Albert J. John, Brookfield, 111.

Application October 30, 1953, Serial No. 389,283

2 Claims. (Cl. 91)

One of the problems confronting the users of row boats is the disposition to be made of oars when they are not being used for propelling purposes. When oars are laid in the boat, either unshipped or remaining in the oar locks, they are in the way and may easily be damaged. If the blades are wet they bring moisture into the boat.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and novel attachment for a row boat to permit an oar to be supported in a safe position, without bringing moisture into the boat, at all times when the oar is not in active use.

A further object of the invention is to produce such an attachment that will support the oar with the blade either within or on the exterior of the boat.

A still further object is to produce such an attachment that may serve other purposes, namely for anchoring lines or strings of fish or containers of various kinds.

In carrying out my invention I employ a clamp that may be applied athwart a boat gunwale and which is provided with one or more rest devices; the rest devices being part of a member that may be swung from a position within the boat to a position on the outside; and there being preferably two rest devices on said member, one to support the oar blade on the outside of the boat and the other providing a support within the boat.

The various features of novelty whereby the present invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the appended claims; but, for a full understanding of the invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

Said drawing is a perspective view of a preferred form of the invention and fragments of a boat on which the same is mounted; the rest device, proper, being shown in full lines in one of its two extreme positions and in broken lines as occupying the other position.

Referring to the drawing, A represents the gunwale of any suitable row boat, B is the blade of an oar and C is an oar lock.

The attachment constituting the present invention consists of a clamp 1, and a member 2 provided with one or more seats in which an oar blade can rest, movably mounted on the clamp. The clamp body is a U-shaped element comprising a bar 3 having at its ends shorter arms 4 and 5; the bar preferably being long enough to span most of the conventional gunwales. A long screw 6 extends through arm 4, near the free end of the latter and in the plane of and parallel to bar 3. The gunwale is gripped between the inner end of the screw and the inner edge of arm 5.

The stem 7 of a long hook device is hinged at one end to the middle of bar 3, 8 being the hinge pin. The other end of the stem is bent into the shape of a Z lying 2,734,206 Patented Feb. 14, 1956 on its side. The device is preferably formed of a single piece of wire, bent double at the middle and the double strand being then bent to form the Z which constitutes a double hook one nearer the end of the device than the other; with the valleys in the hooks, 9 and 10, respectively, facing in opposite directions; and the free ends of the wire being formed into eyes 11 that engage the hinge pin.

Bar 3 is provided with two cross pins 12 and 13 parallel to and in the same plane as the hinge pin, one pin being near each end of the bar.

The parts are so proportioned that the hook device may swing through an angle of from a position in which it rests on one of the cross pins, as shown in full lines, to the position in which it rests on the other cross pin, as shown in full lines. In the first of these positions both hooks are outwardly from the boat, hook 10 facing up. In the second position both hooks are within the boat and it is hook 9 that faces up.

It is obvious that with the attachment secured to a boat at a proper distance from an oar lock, the corresponding oar may be rocked so that its blade may enter edgewise the valley in whichever hook that is facing upward; whereby the oar may be stored safely, close to the side of the boat, either within or outside of the boat, without lifting the oar out of the oar lock.

When the hook device is in its outward position, it may serve as an anchoring point for various lines, or a pail or other receptacle or other object may be hung therefrom so as to be immersed in the water in which the boat may be floating.

It should also be noted that the hook device is greatly strengthened while in either of its working positions, because the rigid bar 3 is interposed between the two legs of the stem of the device and thus gives rigidity to the stem. This follows from the fact that whenever pressure is applied to the hook device tending to move it lengthwise of the gunwale, one leg or the other of the stem contacts the side of the clamp which absorbs the thrust.

I claim:

1. An oar rest attachment for a boat, comprising a clamp adapted to be secured athwart the gunwale of the boat, a rest member having a stem formed of two legs disposed on opposite sides of the clamp and each hinged at one end to the clamp at the middle of the latter, a hook on the other end of the stem, and pins extending transversely through the clamp near the two ends of the latter and projecting far enough on each side to support the stem both when the hook is on the outside of the boat and when on the inside.

2. An oar rest as set forth in claim 1, wherein the two legs of the stem are deformed to create a second hook just inwardly from the first hook and facing in the opposite direction from the latter, and wherein the pins are in about the same plane as the hinge axis to cause the stem to lie horizontal in each of its two extreme positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,426,881 Johnson et al. Sept. 2, 1947 2,476,116 Scheckel July 12, 1949 2,504,461 Spiehler Apr. 18, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 138,707 Sweden Jan. 7, 1953 

